


Lessons in Humanity

by omfg_otp



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, New Year's Eve, POV Lydia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 07:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2805320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omfg_otp/pseuds/omfg_otp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pack decides to go to Lydia ski house for New Years eve. Malia is getting frustrated by the fact she doesn't understand any human customs and traditions. Lydia decides to help her by giving Malia a few Lessons in Humanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons in Humanity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitahart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitahart/gifts).



Lydia stood in the centre of her crowded lounge. The whole pack was there, sprawled out over the sofas and the floor, including their new member, Malia. She was currently staring at the Christmas tree in the corner of the room like it was about to come alive and eat them all. But Lydia had other things to concentrate on right now, like the fact that she had been planning this holiday all year, and now it was the 29th of December, the day before the trip. 

They were leaving in the morning to drive to Lydia’s family house in a little skiing town. After an extremely stressful Christmas trying to organise this little adventure, there was one last thing on Lydia’s to-do list. Car pooling.

“So, for the last time,” Lydia said, interrupting Stiles and Derek bickering. “Allison is taking Scott, Erica and Boyd in her car. Derek is taking Stiles, Cora and Isaac in the Camaro, and I’ll be taking Malia. Are there any issues with that? No? Good.” She didn't leave anyone enough time to answer. “Now go home and get some sleep, we have 7 hours of driving to do tomorrow.”

Lydia told the pack to set off no later than 11:00am, knowing it was unlikely that anyone but herself would actually set off on time.

 

Lydia pulled up outside Malia’s house at 10:55am. Malia came out a moment later, bags in hand, making her way quickly towards the car. She tossed her luggage in the back, and promptly got into the front seat.

“Let’s go.” She almost-growled, and Lydia (for once) did what she was told. There was obviously something wrong.

“What’s up with you?” The redhead asked, bluntly. Malia let out a frustrated sigh.

“My dad didn’t want me to come on this trip.” 

“Why?”

“He just got me back. He doesn’t want me to disappear again.”

The car was silent for a few moments.

“How is everything going with him?”

“Better than I thought it would.” Malia’s voice sounded softer than before. Lydia glanced over to find the blond smiling faintly. “Christmas was fun with him. I don’t remember much before the accident, but I do remember my mom baking gingerbread at christmas. So my Dad thought we should making it a tradition. What about you?”  
Lydia snorted and shook her head.

“Christmas is the only time my parents ever see each other. When their not arguing with each other, they compete for my love using the most expensive and extravagant gifts possible. This year, my Dad was out the door before pie was even served.”

“That must be... difficult.” 

“I’m used to it,” Lydia waived off the comment, and changed the subject. “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us, and I made a Holiday playlist.” She flicked on the stereo, and hummed along to Michael Buble. Malia settled into her seat, and watched the scenery passing by.

 

Four hours later, Lydia turned off the highway into a service station. She glanced over at Malia, who had fallen asleep in the first hour of the journey. She looked so peaceful, Lydia thought, like Sleeping Beauty. Reluctantly, she shook the blond awake.

“Malia, I’m going to fill the tank and get some food, do you want anything?”

Malia grumbled and blinked awake.

“Whatever you’re having.” She answered, and Lydia smirked at her grumpiness.

“I’ll be back soon.” 

 

Lydia returned to the car a few minutes later to find Malia pressing random buttons and switches on the stereo. As soon as she opened the car door, Malia stopped fiddling.

“What were you trying to do with the stereo?” Lydia asked, handing Malia her food. Malia looked mildly guilty.

“Nothing, I just…” Malia hesitated slightly, “I get frustrated. A lot.”

Lydia raised her eyebrows slightly. She had never heard Malia talk about how she felt about anything.

“At what?” Lydia prompted.

“I was 9 years old when I changed into a coyote, and I barely remember anything from back then. Now i’m human again but the world has moved on. I’m suddenly supposed to know how to work a stereo, or what dress size I am, or why the hell humans bring trees inside when it gets cold! It all just seems crazy to me. It frustrates me that people expect me to be human when i’m...not.”

Lydia stared at Malia, trying to process what she had just heard. Of course Malia was feeling like this. Of course she had no idea how to be human, how to survive a normal existence. 

How could I have been so naive? Lydia asked herself. Malia needed her help, so she was going to get it.

“Ok.” Lydia told the blond, and proceeded to explain exactly what each button on the stereo did, and refused to let them both eat, until Malia had tuned the radio to her favourite station. When that finally happened, they got back onto the road, exchanging conversation on different aspects of humanity that Malia had yet to understand.

They reached their destination as the sun was setting having covered deep topics like religion, science and internet memes.

“We can continue your Humanity Lessons tomorrow if you want.” Lydia told the blond as she let herself into the house with the spare key hidden inside a plant pot. 

Surprisingly everyone else in the pack was already here. Maybe they had spent more time at that service station than Lydia thought.

“Well hello there, Miss punctuality.” Stiles snarked as soon as they walked into the lounge.

“Watch it, or you’ll be sleeping outside.” She sassed back.

“But seriously, where have you been? I was getting worried.” Scott asked, puppy eyes staring at her. Lydia glanced back at Malia, who was awkwardly hovering in the door. She doubted Malia would like her to share the mini freak out with everyone.

“We had a bit of car trouble, but nothing I couldn’t fix.” Lydia said with a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I don't feel like cooking tonight. Who wants pizza?”

After that, everyone forgot about their tardiness, and settled down for what seemed to be a normal Pack Pizza Party. A Disney film was put on Netflix, and one by one the pack drifted off to sleep. 

 

The next day was New Years eve, and the pack decided that they should celebrate in style. They would go out for a fancy meal in town before heading back to the house to toast the New Year. This, of course, meant Lydia and Allison would be going shopping for something to wear. Lydia decided she would use this opportunity to give Malia some more Humanity Lessons in the form of retail therapy. The girls drove into town in Allison’s car, discussing what they needed to buy. 

“We should get our dresses and shoes first.” Lydia decided as Allison pulled into and empty space in the parking lot. “Then go to the salon. I’m in desperate need of a manicure.” She smiled at Malia. “Maybe you'd like to get your hair done when we’re there?” She phrased it as a question but, honestly? The girl hadn’t had a haircut in 8 years, so she was in desperate need of one. Malia didn’t reply, but gave a small smile as she got out of the car.

“So, where are all the good stores?” Allison asked as they headed down Main Street.

“There’s a cute little boutique just down this road, my Mom used to take me here all the time.” Lydia replied, leading them forwards.

Inside the store, the three girls said hello to the friendly assistant, and started browsing the items. Lydia remember this store for always supplying the latest trend in high street fashion, with a classy and elegant twist, and it was as good as ever. Allison was soon lost in comparing two similar looking dresses, which gave Lydia the chance to help Malia, who was looking completely lost.

“Have you ever been shopping before?” Lydia asked bluntly.

“Yeah, but I didn’t do much. I just asked the assistant to pick out some stuff.” Malia replied with a shrug.

“Ok, we’ll start by deciding what sort of color you want to wear.” Lydia decided, immediately heading towards the dark browns and smokey greys she knew would compliment Malia’s skin tone. She started looking at each dress, mentally assessing each style and how it would look on Malia. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Uhh, I don’t know?” Malia said uncertainly. This may turn out to be more difficult than Lydia first thought. 

“What color do you like looking at? What color do you think suits you?”

“I’ve never really thought about it before.” She said, frowning slightly. “But I like the way the forest looks at spring time, with all the bright green leaves and grass?”

“Ok.” Lydia smiled encouragingly. “We’ll start there.”  
They spent the next hour going from rack to rack, evaluating each choice with precision. They finally narrowed it down to ten dresses, when Allison came strolling up to them, having already picked out her dress.

“Please don’t tell me you’re buy all of those Lydia.” She joked.

“These are for Malia.” The redhead replied hotly. 

“And you haven’t picked any out for yourself yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Maybe you should.”

Lydia glanced at Malia, and then back at Allison, who had an eyebrow raised.

“I can do that later.”

Before she could do anything, Allison had snatched the dresses out of her arms.

“It’s fine.” The hunter reassured her. “I can help Malia with these, and you can go and pick your own dress. It’ll be quicker that way.”

Before she could say anything more, Allison was pulling Malia towards the dressing rooms. The blond glanced back and shrugged, before following Allison. Lydia couldn’t help feel a small pang of hurt because Malia didn’t put up much of a fight, but that was stupid. She quickly busied herself by searching for the perfect dress.

 

 

After they had all chosen their dresses, the girls went to find bags and shoes. Allison and Lydia were both in heels, but Malia had refused to even try any on. She was quite happy just being in flats thank you very much. They then headed to the salon.

“You want me to get my hair cut?” Malia questioned, as they walked into the building.

“Only if you want.” Lydia replied truthfully. “But if you don’t have your hair cut regularly, it can get a bit difficult to maintain. If you don’t want a whole new style, we can just have a bit trimmed off, so you can get rid of those split ends.”

Malia agreed to it, but Lydia suspected she hadn’t understood most of what she just said. The redhead made a mental note to do a three hour Humanity Lesson based around hair care. Lydia watched Malia carefully as she was having her nails done. The blond seemed to flinch a bit every time the hair stylist cut close to her ear. She also seemed to be scenting the air. If she smelled anything strange, she didn’t let on. After that, everything went smoothly. Allison and Lydia’s nails were finished, and looked great. Even Malia seemed happy at the small change in the length of her hair. Lydia congratulated herself on a job well done.

 

When they got to the house, everyone else was getting ready to go out, but before Lydia could rush off to get in the shower, Malia pulled her aside.

“I just wanted to say thank you for today. I had...fun.” The blond seemed surprised by that.

“No problem.” Lydia replied. “We managed to get almost everything needed for a night out.”

“Almost everything?”

“We didn’t have time to get some make-up for you.” Lydia explained. Malia didn’t look happy at that comment. “You can always borrow mine if you want.”

Malia’s frown deepened.

“I don’t really want to wear make-up. I just don’t understand why people would want to put chemicals all over their skin.”

“Fair enough, Nature Girl.” Lydia smirked. “But sometimes it can be useful. I need to get in the shower before someone else steals my time, but i’ll see you later?” 

Malia nodded, and Lydia smiled, heading off towards the bathroom.

 

The dress Malia and Allison picked out looked amazing. 

No, Lydia thought, Malia looks amazing.

It was a simple, forest green dress, that came down to the knee, with a sweetheart neck line. She looked stunning in it. Or maybe it was because Lydia had never seen her in clothes that actually fit before.

 

The pack made it to the restaurant in time for the reservation Scott had booked for them. It was lucky Lydia knew the owner, or they never would’ve gotten a table. The place was packed with locals, as well a holiday makers, celebrating the New Year. The meal was fun, if not a bit awkward. Normally at pack dinners there was a lot of wolfing around, but in public they had to be 100% human. They still laughed and joked around, but Lydia could tell a few of them couldn’t wait to be back in the privacy of the house. When they finally did get back, it was 2 hours ‘til midnight, so they settled down to watch another Disney film.

“Guys, its 11:55!” Stiles shouted, waking everyone up from their food induced doze. Lydia flushed with embarrassment when she realised she had been napping on Malia’s shoulder. 

“I’ll get the champagne.” She said, excusing herself quickly. 

She hurried to the kitchen, and got three bottles out of the fridge. She was putting some glasses onto a tray when someone came up behind her, scaring her into dropping a glass. She turned around to find Malia right behind her.

“Jesus Christ, don’t scare me like that.” She said, trying to calm herself down.

“Sorry” Malia said, but she didn’t look like she meant it. “I was just wondering if you needed any help carrying anything.”

“I think I can manage.” Lydia replied, but Malia didn’t move. “Was there something else?” Lydia tried.

“Allison told me something extremely weird that humans do.” The blond seemed anxious, looking at the clock behind Lydia’s head. “I was hoping you could help me understand.” 

“Of course.” Lydia said, trying to put her at ease. “What is it?”

Malia was still looking at the clock, and she started counting down under her breath.

“4……..3……..2…..”

Lydia understood what was going to happen a second before it did. Malia leaned forwards and kissed her lightly on the lips. It was more of a peck than anything. You could tell Malia was inexperienced, but Lydia didn’t care. 

“Did I do it right?” Malia whispered.

Lydia didn’t bother answering, she just pulled the other girl against her and leaned in again. This time she was in control, so dragged it out a bit longer. A loud cough suddenly interrupted them, and the broke apart to find a very annoyed looking Stiles standing in the doorway. 

“We missed the New Year because of you two making out?!”

Malia threw a Champagne glass at his head.


End file.
